Over $450 million in trunk infrastructure has gone into the ground at Stapleton. $332 million of that has been financed through TIF (tax increment financing). TIF revenue is growing every year and will continue to pay for Stapleton’s trunk (regional) infrastructure until 2025, when that financing ends. However TIF comes with an inherent challenge. Future TIF revenue needs to be accessed to keep development happening now and moving at a pace that will generate revenue according to projections.

Until now, the Denver Urban Renewal Authority has issued bonds to obtain the funds needed for development. However, with only ten years left in the TIF, and with the existing obligations that already have priority, Brad Dodson from the City Department of Finance recently explained to Stapleton’s Citizens Advisory Board that traditional bond financing is no longer an option. DURA and city staff are assessing how they can best leverage future TIF revenue to maximize development in the remaining years of the TIF.

What has been completed so far?

“We’ve passed the halfway point,” says Dodson. The five K-8 school buildings to be constructed with TIF funds have all been completed. Of the city facilities listed in the Stapleton Development Plan, only the north fire station and a parks maintenance building remain to be built. A police and fire station have been completed. And sixty-two percent of the arterial roads, regional parks and storm drainage facilities have been built.

What regional infrastructure is left?

Thirty-eight percent of the regional infrastructure remains to be built (arterial roads, regional parks and storm drainage)—and that accounts for 95 percent of future TIF expenditures.

What will be the next projects?

Short-term projects, to be initiated by 2017, include (in no particular order) Stapleton Transit Station infrastructure, Westerly Creek North/Sand Creek Uplands, Central Park Blvd 46th to 50th, grading and drainage up to 56th Ave., and parks north of I-70.